His argument didn't even stack up. He didn't want the county players playing for their clubs this weekend and he kept talking about a level playing field. He said other county managers can call of games no problem. But they are playing Tyrone whose players have already played 5 club games and will play again this weekend and whom have already been involved in a row when Harte wanted to move games from a Sunday to midweek and the clubs won. So what's not level about it? There is a 13 day rule in place for a reason and there is no reason for every county not to follow it within reason. If the clubs had tried to get their players to play next weekend then he would have had the right to complain.

His argument didn't even stack up. He didn't want the county players playing for their clubs this weekend and he kept talking about a level playing field. He said other county managers can call of games no problem. But they are playing Tyrone whose players have already played 5 club games and will play again this weekend and whom have already been involved in a row when Harte wanted to move games from a Sunday to midweek and the clubs won. So what's not level about it? There is a 13 day rule in place for a reason and there is no reason for every county not to follow it within reason. If the clubs had tried to get their players to play next weekend then he would have had the right to complain.

Derry clubs have played 5 games this season as well. I don't know what that has to do with the point you are making.

I believe that Barton was looking to have the players for a Challenge Match, this weekend. Its silly talking to a journalist about this, knowing that it'll make the back page. Other county managers may have a bit more influence over the fixture, but as you say the 13 day rule is there for a reason. He cannot really complain about that.

Regardless of all that, Tyrone will win this game easily. A team that were one win away from the Div1 final versus a team that are in Div 3. It might not be the 11pt victory from last year, but it'll be close to that.

His argument didn't even stack up. He didn't want the county players playing for their clubs this weekend and he kept talking about a level playing field. He said other county managers can call of games no problem. But they are playing Tyrone whose players have already played 5 club games and will play again this weekend and whom have already been involved in a row when Harte wanted to move games from a Sunday to midweek and the clubs won. So what's not level about it? There is a 13 day rule in place for a reason and there is no reason for every county not to follow it within reason. If the clubs had tried to get their players to play next weekend then he would have had the right to complain.

Derry clubs have played 5 games this season as well. I don't know what that has to do with the point you are making.

I believe that Barton was looking to have the players for a Challenge Match, this weekend. Its silly talking to a journalist about this, knowing that it'll make the back page. Other county managers may have a bit more influence over the fixture, but as you say the 13 day rule is there for a reason. He cannot really complain about that.

Regardless of all that, Tyrone will win this game easily. A team that were one win away from the Div1 final versus a team that are in Div 3. It might not be the 11pt victory from last year, but it'll be close to that.

Barton said it isn't a level playing field because the Derry players are playing club games and it isn't happening else where. But their opponents Tyrone have played the exact same number of games with their clubs. So I'm not sure what's not level about that. In fact if the Derry boy's didn't play this weekend they'd actually have played less club games than the Tyrone players so based on his logic (which I don't agree with) will actually have an advantage.

I'm not sure this game will be as easy as some people are making out. Expect a big performance from Derry in a one off game at home and could give Tyrone plenty of problems. Other than last year Tyrone's record up there is terrible.

So barton wants to forget about the 13 day rule and for his players to avoid playing for there clubs this weekend!. Maybe the gaa should make it a 20 day rule to level the playing field!! Why did he not fix a friendly for midweek knowing there are club fixtures this weekend, problem solved and then he will have the players for 2 full weeks after sunday. Him and mc guckin should keep as far away from a journalist as possible, nothing but pure bluster talk all year. Tyrone to win by more than last year.

The long grass is fairly growing longer as this game approaches.Last year Derry were only a kick of the ball away from beating Tipperary and being in the quarter finals against Galway.

They drew in a friendly with WestMeath last weekend so I don't really buy into all this negativity talk. Yeah they might not be Ulster title contenders but they've shown before that they can really lift themselves for games against Tyrone. If Tyrone come up against a very defensive side they find it hard to get scores from play.